Embodiments described herein relate to a bra that can provide support to a breast pumping device while the wearer of the bra is pumping breast milk using the breast pumping device.
A breast pump may be used to express milk from a breast. Implementations of breast pumps have a pump body to express the milk and a milk container to receive the milk. The pump body of a breast pump may have a breast shield or a flange having a funnel shape with a cup portion that fits over at least a portion of a breast.
A let-down cushion or let-down massage cushion of a breast pump may fit between a breast shield or a flange of a pump body of the breast pump and a breast. The let-down cushion may fit within the breast shield or flange and have an edge that folds over an edge of the breast shield or the flange of the pump body. The let-down cushion may flex in and out to massage the areola of a breast to help stimulate milk flow. A seal may be formed between the let-down cushion and a breast to create suction and encourage breast milk expression.
To use a breast pump, a user manually holds the breast flange, shield, or pump body over a breast. While using the breast pump, the wearer is not able to use their hands for other tasks. It may be desirable to express milk from both breasts simultaneously, but doing so, requires the user to hold both breast pump bodies against oneself and is both awkward, and does not allow the user to do other tasks. As such, garments that assist in supporting the breast pump body for milk expression are needed to allow a wearer to use their hands for other tasks during milk expression with a breast pump.